Classroom Environment

One of my beliefs and something I value in my teaching philosophy is centering students’ experiences in the curriculum. The artifacts that you find in this domain are examples of how I was able to accomplish this during the summer. Coming into the program, I understood that before students can feel comfortable being vulnerable and sharing parts of themselves in class, it is crucial to set the tone and classroom expectations. This is why we created a last of community norms during the first week. Throughout the course, I was consistently thinking of ways to create safe, comfortable learning spaces for the different types of learners in my classroom. During daily lesson planning, I designed assignments keeping in mind many of the accommodations for students and working and offering suggestions to my teaching team regarding how to adapt activities to further support my students.

I dedicated time to really getting to know students through letters they wrote to introduce themselves, entrance and exit tickets, and their final narratives. My kindness and support led me to establish strong and positive relationships with my students and establish a strong sense of community in the classroom. The connections I created with my students allowed me to gain insight into their identities and create lesson plans that highlighted their funds of knowledge.